Idle thoughts: Part 2 - Rex eposed.....FINALLY, we hope.

[patfanken]

Disclaimer. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Pats had lost this game, but I certainly wouldn't have been surprised or disappointed as long as they played hard and fought for 60 minutes. The fact the Pats were starting 3 rookie OLmen against the "best DL" in the league, who was getting their best player back. Not exactly an ideal situation, ESPECIALLY when you are playing away against a really tough crowd, and offensive communication is going to be shaky at best. The fact that a questionable defense gave up a lot of yds on the ground and in the air in the first game, wasn't doing much for my confidence either.

1. There will be PLENTY of good teaching points for BB to bring out in this game. Brady had at least 3 major misses, and I could count a minimum of 6 drops by various receivers. A lot is going to be said about the Bills getting 14 penalties for 140 yds, but Bill can't be pleased with the 11 penalties for 120. That is a LOT of penalty flags. And there were plenty of other mistakes, some of which I will probably point out before this epic is over.

On the plus side, It's probably good that the Pats were far from perfect. There is a long way to go, and this team is FAR from what it needs to become if they are going to seriously challenge for another Superbow. However being 2-0 is nice given how much room we have to grow.

2. Here are the things I liked the most about this game:

a. The team's mental toughness: Given how loud the crowd was and how hard it was to communicate, the offense showed great mental toughness and discipline in the games, especially given how the first 2 series of the game went.

b. You had to love what the OL did in pass protection. Given the fact how loud the crowd was and how good the Bills' DL is (as well as their DB's) Brady might never have a cleaner game the rest of the year. There were only 2 sacks, and one clean beat (Solder), but THAT was in almost 60 drop backs. That is an .033 success rate for their DL. Even more surprising than the lack of sacks, the fact Brady had so little general pressure all game. It certainly was NOT what anyone would have a right to expect. Remember NONE of these kids was what you would call an elite rookie. Hell the highest pick was in the 4th round and one is an undersized UDFA.
All this and I bet Brady wasn't hit more than 4 time outside the 2 sacks. Hell, Chandler Jones alone had 4 QB hits.

c. The coaching was just outstanding. No only the game plan was sound in general, whatever adjustments Josh made starting in the 2nd drive; were only beat by the adjustments Matt P contrived aft that first one.

d. Tom Brady - I'm almost being redundant just mentioning him. His most yards EVER over a 16 year career, yet it wasn't perfect and I'll bet his pissed about all the plays they left on the field, especially the fumble

e. Aaron Dobson's 7 catches for almost 90 yards. That is a great game for a guy who is at best the 3rd option and most likely the 4th. Some of the haters are going to have do an Edelman UTurn circa 2013 concerning Dobson. So far this season he has done everything he's been asked to do. But most importantly he's be reliable.

3. Lost in the 40 points and more being left on the field is the 4th down play from the 50. It was not exactly Bill's best moment, given the lead the Pats had and the chance to pin a team we'd been stopping back on their own goal line. But even worse (IMHO) than the decision to go for it, was the very curious play call we made. First we didn't even give ourselves ourselves a run option, even from shotgun; it looked like the only option left for Brady after whatever his first option was taken away, plan B was to just heave it up and hope for the best.

That wasn't close what Josh usually thinks up, when Brady has a viable 2nd, 3rd, and 4th options. My self I would have run something to Williams at that point. We only needed a yard and given what had been happening, Gronk, Edelman, and Lewis would have seen the tightest coverage. Dobson and Williams were the likeliest to have been open.

4. Collins FINALLY decided to show up this year, and he really had an impactful game with 2.5 sacks a forced fumble, and 8 tackles with at least 3 for losses. My goal for him was to have at least 5 impact plays, with "impact plays" being defined as tackles for loses, sacks, passes defended, or forced fumbles. Jamie well exceeded this goal. HOWEVER it might seem like nitpicking, but we need to expect the best from our best defensive player (at least the most talented one) I would guess there were at least 4 or 5 plays where Collins could be seen flying by and over running runners or receivers allowing a lot of YAC or run after contact than he should have.

I wouldn't even say something if it had been a LB like Freeney or Fletcher, but THIS is my best guy. He's the guy who's number I use to represent me on all my post, and my preseason pick for DPY. I expect better. I expect "special". He was certainly good this game but 3 or 4 overruns from being "special" btw. If you see Jamie, tell him I'll be watching.

5. What was best about the Pats 8 sacks this game, pretty much none of them occurred because of a missed block or assignment (maybe one or two) - but MOST of them because of constant and persistent pressure that kept on coming against an elusive target. That tells us not only was the secondary doing a good job, and that allowed the DL to slowly roll up and over Taylor like a Tsunami rather than a lightning bolt. Most of those sacks were "team" sacks rather than individual.

6. Chandler Jones ... as I live and breath. Someone must have told you that this was a contract year. . Basically I have come to believe that Chandler Jones is a good solid DE. A bit more athletic than Ninko, but no less reliable, durable and effective again both the pass and run. He is never going to end up being a "dynamic" pass rusher like Von Miller or Robert Quinn. I'm not even sure Von Miller or Robert Quinn could be a "dynamic" pass rushers playing in BB's system.

What I DO know is that Chandler Jones IS a very good and versatile football player who is a valuable asset to this team. A guy who is more valuable here than anywhere else. I would recommend to him that he should swap more guaranteed money for a couple of million less than top dollar/yr, even if he winds up with 15 or so sacks this year. He would have a much more rewarding career staying here, and make more than enough money that he would never HAVE to work again after he retires. I hope he doesn't have to find out, after the fact, that he is going to be happiest here for the long haul, because like so many before him, Bill is NEVER going to pay him top dollar. He is very good, but not THAT exceptional. JMHO

 

[patfanken]

7. Now a few things I didn't like, or Bill Bellichick's teaching points for Monday

a. Some individual plays that I KNOW are going to get special attention in the Monday meetings. First the running into the kicker. That play might have been a huge over in this game, especially at that time. I know Rupert did his best to avoid the kicker, but that is NOT how the game is being called these days. If it had been 4th and 4, it would have been disastrous. Unlike Rex, bill is going to put a HUGE emphasis on this play, and I guarantee you it will be a very long time before we have a running into the punter penalty again..

Bill is also going to be apoplectic about the 120 yards on 11 penalties. I understand that more than 50 yds were occurred in 2 PI penalties. Both of those were fairly close calls, in fact I don't recall CBS even bothering to show one on replay, Gammons even questions the 2nd one. As far as the 5 or 6 off sides and procedure penalties, that was 25 or 3o yds that were added 0n. I'm hard pressed to get mad about those too much given the noise and the youth of the interior lines, but I bet BILL isn't OK with it and that's why we love him.

Bill will also spend a lot of time talking about the two fumbles, especially Brady's. Brady's fumble turned an easy win into the a nail biter, and it was all our own fault. There will be a lot of guys not looking forward to when that play comes up tomorrow.

You or I might call the scores "garbage time" and they were, BUT Bill isn't. This will about a 2o minute diatribe on 'why you have to play the ENTIRE 6o minutes;'. It will likely be a great object lesson that Bill can use for the entire year. Nice when something like this happens so early in the season......and you survive it.

b. No one can be happy to see 3 fourth quarter TD's. Again the object lesson of "playing for the whole 60 minutes". Sorry fantasy fans, but I frankly don't give a damn as long as we come away with a win.

c. I am mixed about Fletcher getting torched deep, but I'm probably a lot less angry toward him than a lot of you are. First the PI wasn't bad, and Fletcher had pretty good coverage. He was getting as much contact as he was giving.

I look at that one as being as much a make up call for the Bills as a penalty against the Pats. Given how many calls the Bills had forced the Refs to call, you could almost expect an iffy PI against the Pats. There was enough contact there that they HAD to make a call, even though, I bet half the time under different circumstances, they let that one go, especially since the ball was overthrown.

However here is my thing about Fletcher. He is what he is. Guys like Watkins , ABrown, and AJGreen are going to be able to beat him deep. That's it. The fact is that we had another guy very similar to him last year and most of the time we didn't ask Browner to cover a receiver like that deep WITHOUT over the top help. Really why should we be shocked, we leave him on an island against a deep receiver and he gets beat, We don't ask Edelman to block tackles, why should we ask Fetcher to cover guys we know he can't (as well as most of the league) cover. IMHO Fletcher's mistakes were just as much Matty P's as his.

This team has thrived on not asking its players to be responsible for more than what they can physically do. Right now we aren't doing that with Bradley Fletcher. I think the fairer thing would be to blame the scheme a lot more than the player.

8. Now a few thoughts about the Bills and Rex.

a. I wrote on a Bills site before the game: What exactly is going to happen, if after all the build up, all the hysteria, all the expectations the Bills lose a game that "on paper" they SHOULD win. Where does Rex go from there. OR what if even they DO win. How does Rex get his team even close to the competitive level he had them this week. The simple answer is that He can't. No one could. Essentially Rex shot all his bullets for the 2nd game of the season and he'll have a hard job getting his team ready for the next few games and on an even keel

b. I thought Rex's grand gesture of taking all the blame for the loss was just that, a hollow grand gesture. Rex certainly had a lot of blame, but once again he fails to hold his players accountable and coddles them like children. If BB pulled a crap move like that, his players would laugh at him. THEY know that it's the players who lose game, not the coaches. Rex never pulled a single guy for any of the several of the particularly bonehead moves today. And now they are all off the hook thanks to their HC.

c. Actually I think Rex will lower the boom on Monday, but in private. It's too early to push anyone under the bus. So Rex will do the cynical thing, and ingratiate himself with the Press and not do the HONEST thing and hold his player accountable.

d. I told people before the game that Rex's team will have way too many penalties and that he will lose at least one TO due to mismanagement. Instead he lost 2 TO's, one in each half, and he had more penalties than even I expected. Obviously he didn't emphasize the over 100 yds his team had last game. Evidently because they won, it must not have mattered.

e. And there is the matter of the 40 points the Pats put on the board and the 20 odd more they left on the field because of their own errors. I wonder what happened to the self proclaimed best defense in the league being coached by the self proclaimed greatest defensive mind

f. What was most shocking to me was the fact that he didn't even TRY to adjust. Now I can see that's it's possible that it does happens sometimes when your pregame defensive plan doesn't seem to work. Those things happen.....often. What surprised me that even in the 4th quarter he was still rushing only 4 guys, and when he blitzed it was an overload rush and STILL only 4 men. And how do you figure going against 3 rookie offensive linemen, two of whom are significantly undersized, (especially Andrews) and almost NEVER challenge them mentally. I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around that.

g. Shady McCoy is great player. I bet more than half his yards were made making people miss. Even though a lot were garbage time runs, he STILL maximized them. I know he probably knows he'd NEVER see the money he got in Buffalo, but I be he looks over a what Dion Lewis is doing and wondering how great it would be to be playing in this offense. I also really like that kid Karlos Williams. That kid has some speed for that kind of size, and I have yet to see him run for negative yard. He's a fall forward kind of RB, and these days they are valuable.

h. Now that the curtain has been drawn back and Rex exposed. I wonder how long it will take before Bills fans start to know the REAL Rex as well as we and Jet fans do. there is a lot more to being a HC than giving great press conferences. I'm sure the media will be giving him Kudos for his 4th quarter comeback, and how "courageous" he was for taking the blame But even that stuff has a shelf life

i. Finally I truly will enjoy spending most of this week making Bills fans choke on their bravado and chutzpah, but I really am rooting for them to make the playoffs as a wild card. You can't blame long suffering bills fans for falling for Rex's snake oil. He was like a man offering water to a dying man in the desert. None of us would refuse the offer.

In the meantime if BB had this talent they would definitely get to the playoffs, and probably win the division. Rex has shown that he CAN be good enough to take a good team to the playoffs. What he HAS also shown...so far. That he HASN'T seemed to have learned from most of the same mistakes he made with the Jets. Now back to the Pats.

9. One of my favorite plays of the game was the 15 yd pass to Williams. Given how teams are going to have to concentrate on Gronk, Edelman, Dobson, and Lewis, Williams SHOULD be able to duplicate that completion once or twice a game for first downs. He was wide open, caught the pass smoothly, and even got some YAC.

10. Am I the only one that noticed on the last drive of the game, and a key one: Marcus Cannon was the RT. I wonder if that was because Volmer was nicked or the Pats were just rotating guys in regardless of the situation. At any rate he must have done a good job

11. Edelman had 11 more catches and another 10o yds, plus 2 TD's - and he might not have as sloppy a game catching the ball the rest of the year. I'm guessing 4 drops right off hand it could be more, and 3 that were simply flat out drops. I can't remember the last time I saw him miss close to that many balls. Usually one a game is what you can count on. But Julian wasn't alone. IIRC, Gronk, Chandler, Dobson, and Lewis all had a least one. Yes Martha, they STILL left a lot of points on the field.

12. If you have to deal with a whining Bills fans who want to complain about the penalties, remind them that the Pats only had 3 less for just 20 fewer yards. I was surprised too. I didn't think we were that bad. I KNEW the Bills were.

13. I think other than the Bills win, the Miami loss made me smile the most. Now that the Bills and Rex have shown their true colors, Miami is the team I fear the most in division, even though they haven't looked good so far. It's a long season, as we found out last year.

 

[Soul_Survivor88]

Great post, but you forgot to mention the several dropped passes by the receivers, including the two dropped passes by Scott Chandler in the end zone.

 

[patfanken]

14. Dion Lewis has to be the FA find of the off season. Has any FA made more of an impact on their new team over their first 2 games. 270 all purpose yds in the first 2 games. WHO has done better than that. Them more I look at him the more he reminds me of Danny Woodhead As of now I put him as Brady's 3rd most important target.

As for the fumbles. I have a theory. I was surprised when Bill put him right in after his 2nd fumble of the year. THAT's not consistent with what we've seen over the years. Of course we are all wondering why? Ther are only 2 possible reasons. One is that he might have felt he had no other option, but that's not true because Cadet was available and even caught 2 passes. The other is that Bill saw the fumble on replay and decided Lewis hadn't done anything physically wrong in his ball security techniques. That fact is that sometimes you don't do ANYTIHNG wrong and ball still comes out,. It's a great play by the defense, rather than a bad play by the runner. It WILL be interesting to watch going forward,.

15. Onward and upward:

a. Much better games by Seliga and Branch. That I DID notice. Malcom Brown, I need someone to fill me in. about how much he played and how well.

b. Mayo and Kline will be the most interesting snap counts I'll be looking to see.

c. Given who we are playing the the fact we have a bye after this coming week, I wonder what is more important; a. getting Easlely 2 more weeks of rest; or b. getting Easley 20-30 snaps before the Cowboys game,

OK that will end tonight's epic. Don't forget that the paperback will be coming out in October. Thanks for your patience in advance, and I look forward to all your comments, (if you are still away after you finish). Take some mercy on any forlorn Bills fans. Karma IS important.

 

[PatsDeb]

What did you think of the Pats continuing to throw it in the 4th Ken? Seemed like hubris and trying to stick it to Rex rather than doing the smart thing and running out the clock. It could have cost us, particularly since the defense was either tired or unfocused.

 

[PP2]

Philadelphia let Fletcher walk because he has bad technique when playing deep. Think it'll be a matter of time before he sinks down the depth chart.

 

[Joker]

Wrecks was exposed in NY ,Ken...today was just the re-enactment of that ButtFumble atrocity Wrecks "coached" the Jets into that day in the Meadowlands. When he's blabbing and bragging and whipping the entire region he coaches into a crazed frenzy, THAT is when he flops like an 800 pound halibut stuffed with toe cheese and sour grapes.

 

[Joker]

Philadelphia let Fletcher walk because he has bad technique when playing deep. Think it'll be a matter of time before he sinks down the depth chart.

he gets beat in press because he has no makeup gear. Run go routes on him all day, I would assume. I think we'll see a lot of Harmon shading Fletcher's side of the field on passing downs until they either find a capable replacement or drill the proper technique into Fletcher's head.

 

[Tunescribe]

he gets beat in press because he has no makeup gear. Run go routes on him all day, I would assume. I think we'll see a lot of Harmon shading Fletcher's side of the field on passing downs untiul they either find a capable replacement of drill the proper technique into Fletcher's head.

I think the Patriots need to consider another mid-season Talib-type trade for a solid corner. I have no idea who or from what team, but it could prove a difference maker down the stretch.

 

[rochrist]

Cannon played a fair amount of the second half I think. First they said Vollmer hurt a finger and he was in for him, and then later, Vollmer came back and Cannon moved to LT for Solder. I'm not clear why Solder came out at that point. But anyway, Cannon spent time at both tackles and Brady is still alive so....

 

[Joker]

as usual, we're on the same wavelength, Tunes

 

[zydecochris]

Disclaimer. I wouldn't have been surprised if the Pats had won this game, but I certainly wouldn't have been surprised or disappointed as long as they played hard and fought for 60 minutes. The fact the Pats were starting 3 rookie OLmen against the "best DL" in the league, who was getting their best player back. Not exactly and ideal situation, ESPECIALLY when you are playing away against a really tough crowd, and offensive communication are going to be shaky at best. The fact that the defense questionable and gave up a lot of yds on the ground and and in the air wasn't doing much for my confidence either.

.....b. You had to love what the OL did in pass protection. Given the fact how loud the crowd was and how good the Bills' DL was (as well as their DB's Brady might never have a cleaner game the rest of the year. There were only 2 sacks, and one clean beat (Solder), but THAT was in almost 60 drop backs. That is an .033 success rate for their DL. Even more surprising than the lack of sacks, the fact Brady had so little general pressure all game. It certanly was NOT what anyone would have a right to expect. Remember NONE of these kids were what you would call an elite rookie. Hell the highest pick was in the 4th round and on is an undersized UDFA.

...d. Tom Brady - I'm almost being redundant just mentioning him. His most yards EVER over a 16 year career, yet it wasn't perfect and I'll bet his pissed about all the plays they left on the field, especially the fumble

.....e. Aaron Dobson's 7 catches for almost 90 yards. That is a great game for a guy who is at best the 3rd option and most likely the 4th. Some of the haters are going to have do an Edelman UTurn circa 2013 concerning Dobson. So far this season he has done everything he's been asked to do. But most importantly he's be reliable.

Great post as always.

I am stunned that this extremely inexperienced interior OL played so well against arguably the best DL in the league, with the stadium noise, Rex knowing he had to confuse the rookies, etc.. In the post game thread, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth that things ended up so close because (IMHO) the Pats relaxed in the fourth quarter, when up 37-13 against a team that TB had a 23-3 record against, they are used to simply checking a "W" with the Bills.

Plus, TB played amazing. Dobson finally got in on things. This just seems like a very, very promising start to the season to me, more so than that for several years.

 

[raduray]

Great analysis Ken.

On the subject of Chandler, I've been a proponent of Brady using more of his receivers, and was pleased by a mid-game sequence where he went Chandler, Dobson, Chandler. But then, Chandler "dropped" those two end zone passes, the second in tight coverage. Do you put them on Chandler, or was there something else going on?

 

[zydecochris]

7. Now a few things I didn't like, or Bill Bellichick's teaching points for Monday

.......a. I wrote on a Bills site before the game: What exactly is going to happen, if after all the build up, all the hysteria, all the expectations the Bills lose a game that "on paper" they SHOULD win. Where does Rex go from there. OR what if even they DO win. How does Rex get his team even close to the competitive level he had them this week. The simple aswer is that He can't. No one could. Essentially Rex shot all his bullets for the 2nd game of the season and he'll have a hard job getting his team ready for the next few games and on an even keel.

......d. I told people before the game that Rex's team will have way too many penalties and that he will lose at least one TO due to mismanagement. Instead he lost 2 TO's, one in each half, and he had more penalties than even I expected. Obviously he didn't emphasize the over 100 yds his team had last game. Evidently because they won, it must not have mattered.

......9. One of my favorite plays of the game was the 15 yd pass to Williams. Given how teams are going to have to concentrate on Gronk, Edelman, Dobson, and Lewis, Williams SHOULD be able to duplicate that completion once or twice a game for first downs. He was wide open, caught the pass smoothly, and even got some YAC.

Another great post. On the first two points you completely nailed this in your discussion of Rex Ryan as a coach in the "Rex Ryan pre-game press conference" thread. Sure enough, despite the fact that one might expect this to be a "L" for the Pats due to unfavorable match-up factors, his team had way... too many penalties and he lost at least one TD (in fact two) because of it. Exactly on the mark.

I'm a bit of a Williams fan, so I was excited by this play also. I think Williams is another example of BB thinking outside the box. Williams is such a good blocker that, at the TE position, he functions as an additional offensive lineman (certainly he has the size). However, his history at Alabama was that he had really good hands and made some really big catches in crucial moments so he doesn't shrink from the moment (his hands were great, he just wasn't much of a speed demon or someone that could juke people out of their shoes). I could see how he could be a unique weapon, someone who is effectively a sixth offensive lineman who can be a reliable receiver when left open.

 

[VJCPatriot]

I feel you are being too harsh on Jamie Collins. I know he did not play a perfect game but what is important is that he played an impact game that played a large part in disrupting and containing Tyrod Taylor. The Patriots clearly went with a more aggressive gameplan against Buffalo in order to make Taylor uncomfortable. They did not want him to go off like he did against the Colts. So perhaps the aggression or 'overaggression' was partly by gameplan.

Another thing to keep in mind is Collins is just entering his 3rd season and at the age of 25 is just starting to gear up into the young veteran stage. More experience and repetition will help improve his game mentally. I expect to keep seeing progression and although we share lofty expectations on the kid, we have to realize he is still human and will make more mistakes but still has a very high ceiling to grow into.

4. Collins FINALLY decided to show up this year, and he really had an impactful game with 2.5 sacks a forced fumble, and 8 tackles with at least 3 for losses. My goal for him was to have at least 5 impact plays, with "impact plays" being defined as tackles for loses, sacks, passes defended, or forced fumbles. Jamie well exceeded this goal. HOWEVER it might seem like nitpicking, but we need to expect the best from our best defensive player (at least the most talented one) I would guess there were at least 4 or 5 plays where Collins could be seen flying by and over running runners or receivers allowing a lot of YAC or run after contact than he should have.

I believe it is too soon to conclude that Chandler Jones has reached his ceiling and will not turn into anything special. I also feel that he is our best pass-rusher from the defensive end position, even with Sheard added to the fold. That means that the OL and gameplan will focus on stopping Jones and slowing him down each week. I feel that Jones, as long as he remains healthy, can easily grow into a regular double digit sack guy for us each year. On a team that de-emphasizes stats in favor of the good of the team, that is quite good and if that doesn't make Jones an impact player, I'm not sure what is.

Question -- If BB paid Wilfork, Mayo, and McCourty, why wouldn't he pay Chandler Jones if he could find a way to work it under our cap?

6. Chandler Jones,. as I live and breath. Someone must have told you that this was a contract year. . Basically I have come to believe that Chandler Jones is a good solid DE. A bit more athletic than Ninko, but no less reliable, durable and effective again both the pass and run. He is never going to end up being a "dynamic" pass rusher like Von Miller or Robert Quinn. I'm not even sure Von Miller or Robert Quinn could be a "dynamic" pass rusher playing in BB's system.

What I DO know is that Chandler Jones IS a very good and versatile football player who is a valuable asset to this team. A guy who is more valuable here than anywhere else. I would recommend to him that he should swap more guaranteed money for a couple of million less than top dollar/yr, even if he winds up with 15 or so sacks this year. He would have a much more rewarding career staying here, and will never HAVE to work again after he retires. I hope he doesn't have to find out, after the fact, that he is going to be happiest here for the long haul, because like so many before him, Bill is NEVER going to pay him top dollar. He is very good, but not THAT exceptional. JMHO

 

[patfanken]

What did you think of the Pats continuing to throw it in the 4th Ken? Seemed like hubris and trying to stick it to Rex rather than doing the smart thing and running out the clock. It could have cost us, particularly since the defense was either tired or unfocused.

Good question. I would say, that I would have run more, but only a BIT more. As well as those kids in pass protection, they WERE weak in the run game all preseason. It wasn't going to get better for the Bills game. So BB as he often does just doesn't go to his weakness especially when its the other team;s strength.

Like I said I might have run 4 or 5 more runs, but that's all. They were so consistent completing passes that they were just like runs, only more likely to succeed. Not to worry, there will be some games when we will run it 40 times. Maybe next week.

 

[patfanken]

he gets beat in press because he has no makeup gear. Run go routes on him all day, I would assume. I think we'll see a lot of Harmon shading Fletcher's side of the field on passing downs until they either find a capable replacement or drill the proper technique into Fletcher's head.

That's what they should have been doing from the start. You could tell in camp Fletcher would have issues with top receivers like Watkins. It was the same thing as Browner was only 3 inches shorter. They rarely would ask Browner to do what they've asked Fletcher to do several times in the first 2 games......with predictable results. If I were being critical, I have the blame the scheme more than the player. The staff should know better JMHO

 

[Seacoast Fan]

What did you think of the Pats continuing to throw it in the 4th Ken? Seemed like hubris and trying to stick it to Rex rather than doing the smart thing and running out the clock. It could have cost us, particularly since the defense was either tired or unfocused.

Yes, especially since you only had to run it three or four times to run off another minute half or more from o'clock. You could still have been pass happy mostly but kill some clock.

 

[patfanken]

Yes, especially since you only had to run it three or four times to run off another minute half or more from o'clock. You could still have been pass happy mostly but kill some clock.

See the thing bout the running game is that the best killer of the clock is getting first downs, and the fact was that AGAINST the Bills DL, and WR our rookies. The Pats were never going to run the ball for a first down by lining up looking like a run and trying it.

BB has never been a big favorite of attacking your opponent's strength with his own weakness,. And by running the ball, that is exactly what we would be doing with that strategy,

 

[patfanken]

. Just a couple of added thought that didn't get through my fatigue last night,

1 We really didn't have anything to complain about the officials yesterday. The game was called fairly even. Even the 2 PI's I didn't like, I certainly understood them. BUT...there were 2 plays that were important and I need some help clearing up in my head.....especially from those of you who DVR games and can go over them more closely.

a. The first one was that 3rd and 5 the Pats ran on the Bills GL at the end of the game. LGB made a nice hard run and the OL provided a soft spot and LGB ran for 4 and a half yds.....according to the refs. I think we got a really bad spot. According to the measurement we only missed it by about 3 inches. I thought I saw the ref move the ball back about a half yard, and when I saw a quick replay, I thought I knew why.

Blount got that half yard scrambling for that last half yard after he hit the ground. But DID he?. I contend that Blount never hit the ground. He got that last half yard falling over bodies and his knew never it the ground, the refs didn't see it from the side, and Bill should have challenged it.. Am I right about this. Did I see it correctly? Help a brother out.

b. The second one, which might have changed things was Collins' safety. I saw that play a couple of times, but never enough or slow enough to determine if it was a S. It sure looked line one. And what are the rules. Does just the ball have to be cross the plane,, or is it the feet. If its the feet, does the entire foot have to be across, or just the toe. Help a brother out,

2,. This was where I was going to talk about what a great impact Googs has had, and the wonderful job he's done, and how bad a lot of our first reactions were to him. But Shmessy devoted an entire thread to this topic and that was great, because it deserves that kind of attention. I just felt I needed to say that.

3., I have always respect the play of Kyle Williams. A hard working, over achiever who has had to become an all pro in obscurity and has never played in a playoff game. He and Fred Jackson were my most respected Bills and the guys I'd most like to see with the Pats. Well Jackson is in Seattle, but maybe in a year or 2, Williams might like to come down and finally play for a winner at the close of his career. I'd like that.

4. That noise accusation by PFT on the Bills sounded pretty damning. I wonder though in the very selective view of 345 Park Ave that amounts to cheating, just because it IS.

5. It is hard to remember after this game, just how badly it started, especially the defense. That first drive was most likely the worst example of defense that BB has ever experienced. Really.

How bad you ask? Think about it. There were 10 plays in it, and 9 would be deemed very successful. The best and ONLY play that could be seen as moderately successful was a 3 yd run. Even the TD was a walk in. On a long drive it is very difficult NOT to get stopped a couple of times or at least slowed down at least, for a play or two,. NOT on this drive.

And when you consider the 2 yards we gained on the first offensive drive, the turn around from that point on both sides of the ball was noting more than magical